A Prescription for ProfitIn 2007, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $4.8 billion per year advertising prescription drugs directly to the public (ProCon.org 2005). A study by two researchers at York University estimates that the American pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as on research and development (York University, 2008). Why are they spending so much money on consumer marketing? The simple answer is profit. Like any other business, pharmaceutical companies are looking to sell a product and make money. The pharmaceutical industry's primary concern is not the well-being of the consumer but rather convincing them to take their medicine. To eliminate this conflict of interest, the pharmaceutical industry should be prohibited from marketing its products directly to consumers. Direct-to-consumer drug advertising has been legal in the United States since 1985, but it exploded in 1997 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed rules regarding the disclosure of side effects in infomercials ( Calfee, 2002). Since that time, the in...